Icarus the Lunar Guard
Backstory After the fall of Princess Luna and the banishment of Nightmare Moon, the Lunar Guard comprised of the Batponies stayed in the area of Equestria known as the 'Hollow Shades', south of Neighagra Falls. In those thousand years the citizen stayed out of Celestia's sight, figuratively and literally; preserving their culture, families, and the history of their Princess, waiting for the day she would return to lead them again. Growing up, Icarus was an otherwise normal and unremarkable Batpony; he trained in the military arts hoping, like so many others, that he would live to see the day Luna would come home. Cutie Mark & Talent / Ability His cutie mark is based on his own comment when he was still quite young, that he would one day, "...fly around Luna's Moon and bring her back again!". It shows the speed-streak of his tail colours circling around the backside of the Mare in the Moon and returning to Equestria. As he grew, his ability to launch himself higher and faster than most other determined batponies manifested; allowing him to claim higher altitudes, longer distances, and faster speeds than most other fliers. He will occasionally be used for high-altitude covert surveillance, but his primary job is as a high-speed secure courier for The Lunar Guard. Personality Icarus has a tendency to seem aloof or disinterested in many situations; he has a desire to 'get to the facts' more than personal chit-chat, making first-time personal interactions with him off-putting to some. Contrary to what some think of him at first, he is a loyal friend who will not shy away from telling someone when they are wrong on something. By extension he highly values people who are willing to tell him their honest opinions and positions, even when they might conflict with his own. He doesn't see himself as particularly special, usually brushing off compliments with a simple, "Just doing my job." Likely this stems from feeling like he was unable to fulfill 'his Cutie Mark destiny' of bringing back Princess Luna himself. Relationships He is single / widower, though he's willing to dabble with the occasional mare for friend & companionship. It's easy to think that nearly everyone is in a near-permanent 'Friendship Zone' with him, but he is simply very careful of who he allows close to his emotions owing to his previous life-mate's loss. Physical Appearance Like most Batponies, Icarus' base coat is a dark grey / charcoal colour, enhances with dark blue markings. The two-tone marking of his tail continues up his spine to a 'starburst' across his shoulders / wing joints. At this point his mane starts, continuing the colour scheme to his forehead - a 'roached' design, somewhat like a Mohawk cut with the grey to the center and the blue to the outsides. And, just for 'character points', he sports 'mutton chops' along the curve of his face from under his ears to under his jawline. His nose has a lighter silver-white diamond in the center and his legs have blue 'stripes' at the bottoms. Armour His armour is fairly unique, taking aesthetics from Luna's Moon crescents. The chest piece is a blue shield with an up-turned crescent moon across it, cradling an oval-cut cat's eye gem. This aesthetic is the centerpiece to his look and was commissioned specifically to display it and be as low-drag as possible. His headpiece uses the same type of gem, being the centerpiece of a gold-trimmed head guard in the same dark blues as the Lunar Guard standard. Where the gold form is somewhat visible in the dark, some have joked that it makes him look like he has an overly developed blond mono-brow. Something that Icarus would otherwise simply raise an eyebrow at in mild appreciation of the joke... if anyone could see it under the helm. The helmet is connected to a segmented neck covering, alternating colours until reaching his wing sockets / shoulders, then sweeping forward into a yoke-harness that connects to his chest piece. Across his flanks he wears something akin to a 'cape', though that is hardly accurate. It combines the look of a heraldry flag and the slight warmth of a blanket buckled around his chest and rump. This helps keep his body warm when passing through clouds and covers his cutie mark, showing, instead, his Lunar Guard Badge denoting him as a member of the Flight Squadrons. The badge reads, "Luna Nos Custodit" ("We Protect the Moon"). Like his neck, his hooves are covered in similarly segmented metal for protection, though they are only blue, but with gold moon crescents on the outsides. This double as both armour and as self-defense weapons. Besides simply striking with his hooves, the moon crescents can be used to cut other combatants in a fight. Since his natural flight abilities make him difficult to catch in a fair flight, he carries no other weaponry. Real Life Inspirations * MLP FiM Episode 'Luna Eclipsed' (S02 E04) * A plush batpony that his player was gifted * The Greek Mythological character of the same name * The Cutie Mark was unintentionally based on the Apollo 8 Mission Patch * Icarus' actual base character design was designed by 'Agent Elrond' Category:OCs Category:Stallions Category:Batpony